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Category Archives: politics

Talk to members of the Greatest Generation, and they’ll tell you how FDR’s words inspired a nation, reeling from the depression, to rise up and defeat the forces of evil that were threatening liberty. Most people born to the Baby Boom generation would talk about how John Kennedy’s words inspired them, or someone they knew, to take an active role in civic life, join the Peace Corps, or enter public service. Listen to anyone from Gen-X, and they’ll recount how Ronald Reagan’s words helped heal a nation after the Challenger disaster, or how Bill Clinton helped us process what happened in Oklahoma City.

There is one historic truism that we know is true, because we’ve all lived through it – a president’s words can inspire thoughts and actions, like no one else.

One of the toughest parts of being in progressive political communications is that our side doesn’t have money like the other side, especially when it comes to off-years.

I can’t tell you how many incredibly good television ad scripts I’ve read that were never produced, because no group had the money to do it.

So it is, again, with the fight over the GOP tax bill. This time, though, rather than look at some scripts, sigh, and shove them away in the purgatory of the hard drive, I thought I’d post them here. Continue reading →

Spinning is something all of us in political public relations do. It’s our job. We take a bit of bad news, and try to rationalize to the media why it’s not so bad. Or we take a bit of good news for an opponent, and find the dark cloud we can place over it. Sometimes it comes off as ridiculous. Sometimes it works. But, spinning is taking the truth and working from there.

Nationalizing a race, whether a state primary or a House special election, can help a campaign raise money and recruit volunteers. But history and recent results demonstrate that this strategy comes at too steep a price.

Let me preface this post by saying I’m an advocate of single-payer health care. Nothing I’m about to write negates that. I’m just writing about political reality.

Yesterday, four GOP Senators came out against the current Senate version of the odious TrumpCare ACA Repeal Bill, tossing a bit of a monkey wrench into their plans to move ahead to a vote.

Their internal fight makes this the perfect time for Democrats to roll out an Obamacare fix bill, and present a positive vision for the future of health care, to America. Part of that vision must be introduction of a public option on the Obamacare exchanges, in the form of a Medicare buy-in. Here’s why.